Article dispensing mechanism for a vending machine or the like

Abstract

An article dispensing mechanism for a vending machine includes at least one serpentine track comprising a pair of facing serially cusp-shaped vertical panels. These panels are attached to side plates of the machine and connected to one another by biasing springs in such a manner as to provide yielding horizontal mobility between opposed panels. This horizontal movement of the vertical panels absorbs the usual article impact which occurs during article loading and dispensing. Also, the article discharge control device is mounted to be vertically movable and biased upwardly to absorb impact shocks from the articles incident article dispensing.

I claim: 
     
       1. In an article dispensing mechanism for a vending machine including a pair of side plates facing one another at a predetermined spacing and at least one pair of serially cusp-shaped vertical panels disposed transversely between said side plates, said panels facing each other to define a serpentine track, an upper open end of said serpentine track being connected to an article loading space and a lower open end of said serpentine track being connected to an article discharge space, and a discharge control device associated with said discharge space to control the dispensing articles, the improvement comprising at least one of said panels being mounted on said side plates to be horizontally movable by a plurality of supporting members projecting from the movably mounted panel, each said supporting member extending into a slot in a side plate, a plurality of said supporting members being connected by means of a first connecting plate, a plurality of said supporting members being connected by means of a second connecting plate adjacent said first connecting plate and biasing means connecting said adjacent connecting plates such that they are drawn toward each other. 
     
     
       2. The article dispensing mechanism for a vending machine of claim 1 wherein each said side plate has a plurality of slots into which a plurality of said supporting members extend providing a gap in each slot to enable movement of said supporting members within said slots. 
     
     
       3. The article dispensing mechanism for a vending machine of claim 1 wherein said discharge control device is vertically movable and supported by said side plates. 
     
     
       4. The article dispensing mechanism for a vending machine of claim 3 wherein supporting pins protrude from opposite sides of said control device, said pins extending into vertical slots in said side plates, and each said supporting pin being engaged by biasing means.